Department of Commerce OIG

The objective of this audit was to determine the effectiveness of security measures for select IT systems that support the 2020 Census. Our audit scope included the Bureau’s risk management program, security operations center (SOC) capabilities, security of Active Directory, and implementation of...

For our final report on the audit of the U.S. Census Bureau's (the Bureau's) incident response process, our audit objective was to assess the adequacy of the Bureau's process to respond to cybersecurity incidents according to federal and U.S. Department of Commerce requirements. We found the...

For our final report on the audit of the United States Patent and Trademark Office’s (USPTO’s) efforts to improve the accuracy of the trademark register, our audit objective was to determine whether USPTO’s trademark registration process is effective in preventing fraudulent or inaccurate...

For our final report on the evaluation of the United States Patent and Trademark Office’s (USPTO’s) Patent Term Adjustment (PTA) and Patent Term Extension (PTE) processes, our objectives were to determine whether USPTO (1) calculates and awards PTA and PTE in compliance with relevant statutes...

For our evaluation of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA’s) National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS, also known as NOAA Fisheries) plan for the implementation of Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) funding, our objective was to determine whether...

This report summarizes work that we initiated and completed during this semiannual period on a number of critical Departmental activities. Over the past 6 months—in addition to issuing our annual Top Management and Performance Challenges Facing the Department of Commerce—our office issued 20...

For our final report on the evaluation of NOAA OMAO’s Ship Fleet Recapitalization Program, our overall objective was to determine the extent to which NOAA OMAO’s acquisition fleet lifecycle processes were followed throughout the development, operation, maintenance, and sustainment of the program to...

For our final report on FY 2020 improper payment reporting, our review objective was to determine the Department’s compliance with the Payment Integrity Information Act of 2019 (PIIA). To determine FY 2020 compliance, we reviewed the “Payment Integrity” section of the Department’s FY 2020 Agency...

For our evaluation of USPTO’s Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) operations, the objectives were to (1) assess PTAB’s processes; (2) identify risk areas within PTAB; and (3) identify any internal and external challenges PTAB faces, and the significance and impacts of these challenges. We...